MML Investors Services LLC Sells 3,067 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

MML Investors Services LLC cut its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 15.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,938 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,067 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $587,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in NiSource by 2.1% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 409,652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,802,000 after acquiring an additional 8,314 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in NiSource by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 25,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $732,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in NiSource by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 98,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,849,000 after purchasing an additional 7,646 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its holdings in NiSource by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 122,769 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,537,000 after buying an additional 9,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in NiSource by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 27,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $796,000 after buying an additional 1,471 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho raised their price objective on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays upped their target price on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on NiSource in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

NiSource Stock Performance

NYSE:NI opened at $36.17 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.88 billion, a PE ratio of 21.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.53. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.80 and a twelve month high of $38.56. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.09.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $986.00 million. NiSource had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 8.27%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Company Profile

NiSource Inc, an energy holding company, operates as a regulated natural gas and electric utility company in the United States. It operates in two segments, Gas Distribution Operations and Electric Operations. The company distributes natural gas to approximately 3.3 million customers through approximately 55,000 miles of distribution main pipeline and the associated individual customer service lines; and 1,000 miles of transmission main pipeline in northern Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and Maryland.